6/28/11 ** Book-a-day challenge: Day 31, Book 37 ** Chengli has a mysterious piece of jade - half a circle. He's been told that it holds the key to his missing father. The book begins when Chengli continues to feel a ghost wind, one that's driving him away from the silk merchant he currently works for, and toward the caravan merchants who travel far outside China. While on the Silk Road with the caravan, Chengli believes that he can uncover the mystery of his father.

Set in 630CE, this middle-grades book has history and adventure. Chengli is spunky and impetuous. Sometimes I found myself wringing my hands at the choices he made, but through those choices he had a remarkable journey (including the rescue of an imperial princess from bandits) that did, indeed, lead to some closure about the mystery surrounding his father's death.